Wild As A Fire
by Military Mechanic
Summary: Faster, faster, faster, Wildpaw runs. Her paws slam down against the harsh stone, sensitive pads ripping and tearing and blood pooling with every step. She doesn't stop though, just pushes on even though it hurts so badly and she cannot catch her breath. Cannot stop, because her Clan depends on her and she must help save them. If she can't, then she will die beside them.


A/N: So, this is written for a contest over at The Coolest Forum Ever. It's also based around a member of the Warriors Challenge Forum, who recently became leader. Wildy, this is for you!

* * *

"C'mon, Wildkit!" cries Juniperkit, racing through the soft grass of the meadow. "Don't be so slow!"

Wildkit flattens her ears against her head and takes off after her sister, blades of grass whipping against her face. Behind her, by the Calm Waters, their mother shakes her head and lets out a purr of laughter.

Birdwing doesn't fear for her kits here, not in a place so close to their camp. In a place where no harm has ever come to a queen, to a kit, to an elder. In a place that has always been safe.

In her mind, it always will be.

After all, the small pool of water that she lays beside can offer nothing to the other Clans. They would not start a war over something as simple as that, and they would not invade StormClan this late into green-leaf.

So she is confidant, even as her two kits dissapear into the long grass and are hidden from view. The pale ginger she-cat lowers her head to her paws and closes her eyes - and then the wind shifts and carries a new scent towards her, one that should not be so close to StormClan's camp, to her kits.

_Foxes_.

Birdflight springs to her paws and then she's running through the tall grass, leaving behind the spring of blue and racing towards her kits.

"Wildkit!" she screams out, and there's so much fear in her that she's surprised she is still moving. "Juniperkit!"

There is no answer so she screams again, calling for her babies, for the two cats that mean the world to her and more. The queen races through the brush and calls and calls and calls; and then she finds them, crouched under an upturned root, eyes wide and hackles raises and there's blood in the air, so much blood, why is there blood?

Birdflight's wild, green eyes take in the area but she cannot see any of the foxes that she scents. Just her two kits, who are scared and tired and confused, but not hurt.

Not this time.

-x-x-x-x-

"She's truly amazing, Birdflight." says Songbreeze, her aged green eyes following the ginger pelted apprentice as she makes her way through the camp.

Beside her, Birdflight gives a purr. "Isn't she, mother? Wildpaw's mentor says that she's doing wonderful in her training."

And she is, oh, she is. Wildpaw is the cream of the crop when it comes to the other apprentices. The best of the fighters, the most lethal of the hunters, the pride of the Clan and all who live in it.

The pride of Birdflight and her mate, Talonstrike, who watches over them all from StarClan.

"I wanted to name her after you, you know." says Birdflight, watching as her daughter slips out of the camp with her mentor, Frostleaf. "Songkit was my choice. Talonstrike always loved the name Wildkit, though."

"It suits her well, Birdflight." rasps Songbreeze. "Just don't forget about your other kit."

-x-x-x-x-

Birdflight never does. Forget about Juniperpaw, that is. She is there for both of her daughters, every step of the way. It's just that, over the moons, it is Wildpaw that keeps climbing and reaching ever higher while Juniperpaw hides in the shadows.

-x-x-x-x-

The foxes that Juniperpaw and Wildpaw met when they were kits come back. Only it isn't just two of them now, it's an entire skulk of them.

And they want StormClan _out_.

-x-x-x-x-

Faster, faster, faster, Wildpaw runs. Her paws slam down against the harsh stone, sensitive pads ripping and tearing and blood pooling with every step. She doesn't stop though, just pushes on even though it hurts so badly and she cannot catch her breath.

Around her, the sharp air of leaf-fall stings at her. It catches the long, ginger fur and tangles it, twists it, wraps it around her legs. Wildpaw flattens her ears and narrows her eyes, trying to ignore it all.

Amidst the roaring wind, she can hear the sound of her Clan-mates calling for help.

So Wildpaw stops running and she leaps, down the side of the mountain. Her paws fly out from beneath her and suddenly she's tumbling down the side, towards the battle that's taking place just on the edge of Fox Grasses. Small yet sharp stones tear at her pelt and skin as she rolls, and something hard strikes her back - there is pain and coldness and she's suddenly on the ground and a StormClan cat, Thrushflight, she thinks, is running past her and snarling.

Move, Wildpaw tells herself, move now!

Despite the pain, she manages to stumble to her paws. Looks around - and everyone is running and fighting and bleeding, and there are foxes everywhere, having left the long grass and come to try and drive StormClan out of its camp. Her clanmates, her kin, they are being killed all around her.

So Wildpaw flings herself into the fight as well, because she will not let her sister die alone. Not now. Not today.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

They name her Wildfire, because that is what she fought like that day, almost half a moon ago. Like a raging fire that was streaking through the Clans, taking out and causing harm to all in her path. Like death and destruction and despair, all rolled into one young cat and flung upon the foxes.

Fallowstar says that she is a major part in their survival that day, and that many more cats would have died without her help.

He also says that, were her mother still alive, she would be proud.

-x-x-x-x-

A quarter of a moon later, Juniperpaw is given her warrior name as well. She is called Junipershade, and Wildfire cheers louder than any other cat there.

-x-x-x-x-

Her first apprentice is a hot-headed tom by the name of Coalpaw.

Her second, a she-cat named Littlepaw that is so quite it's disturbing.

Her third, a scarred and lame thing by the name of Leafpaw.

All three go on to become great warriors, to become legends in their own right, to be known for the skills that Wildfire passed onto them.

-x-x-x-x-

When she becomes deputy, there is not a single cat there who dissaproves. From the oldest elder to the youngest kit, they all cheer for the stunned red she-cat who honestly doesn't think she's anything special. They all call her name and congratulate her and Junipershade is right there at the front of the crowd, crying her sisters name for all she's worth.


End file.
